Field of the Invention
In drive devices for light-emitting components, for example lasers, as is known, detectors (e.g. monitor photodiodes) are present which measure the light power of the light-emitting component and enable the light power to be regulated.
In monitor photodiodes integrated in laser diodes, various causes give rise to so-called “monitor tracking errors”. These “monitor tracking errors” are based on temperature-dependent inaccuracies or measurement errors of the monitor diode, which should actually measure the coupled-in optical power of the laser diode correctly. In the case of an edge-emitting laser, for example, a “monitor tracking error” may be based on the fact that the optical power at the front mirror of the laser and the optical power at the rear mirror of the laser are not proportional—in a temperature-dependent manner. In the case of a surface-emitting laser (VCSEL laser), a “monitor tracking error” may also be caused by a mode-selective and thus temperature-dependent coupling between the laser and its monitor photodiode.